I got another impression of the country and as we entered into Panama City we crossed a huge bridge over the Panama canal with a prime view of the big ships. Nice!
Panama
Bird of the Day: Black Necked Stilt (Morgan’s Rock, Nicaragua)
Yellow Bush Dart
Yes, I used this picture in a previous post, but I feel it is worthy of a repost, especially when the female counterpart is included. If memory serves, this was one of, if not the first odonate picture I took with an SLR camera. Continue reading
Leveraging Irrationality
Dan Ariely explains in a series of captivating short videos how frequently irrational tendencies can lead to optimal outcomes. The Edison-Tesla example in the video above is about the tendency called “not invented here syndrome,” and the key point as he summarizes at the end is a familiar one: understood, this irrational tendency can be very useful.
Wild Things Gone Wild
Click the image to go to the article, which examines what happens when exotic animals are bought as pets, then released into ecosystems where they have no predators or other population-regulating mechanisms. Yikes:
…As Magill was driving to the Miami Metrozoo, where he is the communications director, he passed a troop of rhesus macaques scampering up the road, as if on the plains of Kashmir. Later, the monkeys were spotted wandering through nearby farm fields, gorging themselves on tomatoes. Elsewhere, a small antelope was found wandering the halls of an administration building, a group of juvenile baboons broke into the weight room of a private home, and a python was found dead on the beach in Miami, with two full-grown raccoons in its belly. It was as if all Florida had turned, for a moment, into Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Continue reading
Appellation Mannakkudy
Rama Ponraj (left) and Soumya, 2 members of Mannakkudy EDC
The harvest has been good. Quality, exceptional. The dream? To be known as the best producers in the world of this variety.
Life Mein Ek Baar!
In two previous posts I mentioned this show that would be broadcast on the National Geographic channel. Continue reading
Don’t Think Twice
Bird of the Day: Galapagos Mockingbird (Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, Ecuador)
Osa To Golfito To David To Boquete
It has been quite a trip from the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica to David in Panama. It took most of one day to travel here with the 4WD to Puerto Jimenez and then by boat, taxi and bus to my destination for two nights. Continue reading
Kolbert, Kerala & Clouds
Reading this post from Elizabeth Kolbert, a familiar cloud of doom came over me. Read almost anything she writes, and you will know what I mean. She writes most frequently about seemingly intractable environmental problems, and those about climate change have the most intense effect on me. But ignorance is not an option, so I read. The cloud lasted about seven hours, and parted just now in a most interesting manner. As if my head were just lifted out of the sand. First, the portion that stuck with me:
Since we can’t know the future, it is possible to imagine that, either through better technology or more creativity or sheer necessity, our children will be able to find a solution that currently eludes us. Somehow or other, they will figure out a way to avoid “a 4°C world.” But to suppose that an answer to global warming can be found by waiting is to misunderstand the nature of the problem.
Small Scale
Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle, Jim Doran
When I recently came across the artist/web designer Jim Doran’s work my mind began to swim with connections. In a world where resources, whether our land or our seas, are becoming more and more precious, the more we need to give free rein to our imaginations. In other words, rarely are solutions found within the status quo. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Scarlet Macaw (Morgan’s Rock, Nicaragua)
Shape Moves Market
Earlier this year one of the news outlets we trust when establishing a point of view had this report on a rock.
It was not until a few days ago that the memory of that rock coincided with a post of Amie’s. In it, she linked out to a very illuminating video explaining the role natural selection plays in shaping our aesthetic tastes. It seems we have been remarkably consistent in our preference for the shape of rocks, or at least in those rocks that humans have been chipping away at for millennia. Continue reading
Wordsmithing: Development
From the perspective of anyone immersed in the economic paradigm known as sustainable development, the first entry in OED‘s definition of the word development will be much appreciated.
1. A gradual unfolding, a bringing into fuller view; a fuller disclosure or working out of the details of anything, as a plan, a scheme, the plot of a novel.
Phototectonics
As the son, brother and father of photographers I have to acknowledge that I am partial to the notion that people with cameras can produce rapturously important works of art. Further, I am partial to landscape photography. Recently I started to realize how quaint my understanding of the economics of being an “art” photographer, landscape or otherwise, has been; and those economics just experienced a tectonic shift.
Lost Ladybugs
Earlier this week, James posted about a crowd of ladybugs he spotted on a recycling bin at Emory. His account reminded me of a guest lecture in my entomology class earlier this year, when John Losey came to talk to us, in part, about the Lost Ladybug Project.
The Lost Ladybug Project, which is a citizen science similar to the ornithological projects I’ve written about previously, aims to educate participants on the values of biodiversity conservation and the importance of ladybugs as predators in ecosystems. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Galapagos Hawk (Fernandina Island, Galapagos, Ecuador)
National Geographic Dream Team In Kerala
News came today from the film production company mentioned a while back. Editing is complete. The travelers are still friends. And more.
But the main point was: this Sunday night (India time) we finally get to watch the episode that features Kerala’s backwaters and our houseboats. Thank you for the notification, Vivek!
To the right is a luggage tag. Not a non sequitur: we were working on these while the film crew mentioned above was with us. Our tags had been, quite frankly, boring. We thought the crew deserved a reminder of where they had been with us. So our friends at Thought Factory Design came up with a simple reminder.
I hope Vivek, his production crew, and those four dashing stars of the show are all still carrying around trunks, duffel bags, suit cases and carry-ons with these little reminders of their friends in Kerala…
That reminds me. Before the end of 2011 you will be able to see some of the handiwork of Thought Factory Design if you happen to be traveling in Kerala. Continue reading
Granite Ghost
Bradinopyga geminata (male)
I’m still a student of Indian dragonflies (of the world, for that matter), but one species that has captivated me since I read about it is the Granite Ghost – Bradinopyga geminata. Typically an urban dweller, the species has adapted itself to city life – breeding in water tanks, feeder ponds, and all other pools of water that can be found in a metropolis. The species is so well suited to concrete jungles not only because of its extreme agility and keen hunting senses, but because of its remarkable ability to remain unseen. Continue reading
Organikos 